Robinson: We have to do it now (From The Argus)

Robinson: We have to do it now

10:30am Friday 27th August 2010 in

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Coach Mark Robinson admits it will be a huge disappointment if Sussex are not back in the first division next season.

The county start their game against second-placed Glamorgan at Hove today with a 37-point lead over Northamptonshire, who are third, and a repeat of their victory in the opening match of the season in Cardiff would leave Sussex needing just a handful of points from their two remaining games to secure an immediate return to the top flight.

Robinson said: “Our big goal at the beginning of the season was promotion. I don’t think some of our supporters believed me but our winter signings were geared up towards getting us back into the first division.

“We still haven’t got a divine right to go up but if we don’t from here it will be a big disappointment.

“Key personnel have come back and the four-day team has looked more settled in the last few weeks. When your best players are doing well you have a good framework for the rest of the team to work around and it has certainly been easier for the likes of Lewis Hatchett, Will Adkin and Ben Brown to make the contributions they have in recent games.”

Sussex are likely to be unchanged which means Ben Brown will continue as a specialist batsman after losing the gloves to Andy Hodd for last week’s innings win over Derbyshire.

Explaining that decision Robinson said: “We just felt that at this stage of his career Hoddy is a more accomplished keeper than Ben, who is a young gun trying to take the gloves off him but still has a bit of work to do.

“Ben has made good moves and is a strong character. If Luke Wright had not been able to play last week we would have had no qualms about Ben keeping but we felt both deserved to play as batsmen.

“Ben got his first hundred which is a massive step forward for him. After a shaky couple of games he made a vital 40 against Leicestershire, a half-century when we were up against it against against Surrey before cashing in with his hundred last week.”

Sussex (from): Joyce, Nash, Brown, Goodwin, Wright, Yardy, Hodd, Arafat, Rayner, Panesar, Collymore, Anyon.

Glam organ (from): Bragg, Cosgrove, Allenby, Maynard, Wright, Wallace, Harris, Croft, Cosker, Owen, Waters, Brown, Ashling.